WAHMs: A question for you ladies!
By gmakesmoney
@gmakesmoney (2923)
United States
July 26, 2007 4:16pm CST
I was wondering how WAHMs (Work-at-home-Moms) get it all done? How do you balance home and working online? Do you work online a bit, do some house stuff, work some more, do more home things?
I am a WAH.. daughter. I live with my mother and am unemployeed (yes, I am looking for full-time employment again) at the moment so I've been staying at home and trying to earn a bit online. However since my mother is working full time, I've taken on all the household things, like the cleaning, laundry, cooking, ect. I feel like it's the least I can do, I mean I am living here free and all and I'm 26 so it's not like she has to. But I feel like I don't have enough hours in the day to get everything done. I feel like I'm always doing 15 things at once and running around. I have no time. Like today, I'm was doing laundry while washing dishes (no dishwasher) and working online while trying to get the cat off of the towels and figuring out what was for dinner, setting things out. Now I'm about to go make dinner and vacum at the same time. Nevermind the fact that the vacum falls on me everytime I do the stupid stairs with the attachtment. I have to schedule in showers and there's not even any small children around. I can't even begin to imagine how WAHMs do it. I just thank God that it's just me and my mom, if I had to look after a husband and some kids... well I think I'd have to scrimp somewhere and hire a cleaning lady, lol. I do enjoy it a lot more than being stuck in an office with people you hate doing work that makes 0 difference in the world. I am happy to do these things, it's a great feeling of accomplishment when you get things done. But there in lays my problem, I feel like I'm not getting things done. To make matters worse, I'm Anemic so I'm normally running around with 45% energy on a good day.
Any tips on how to save time and still have a clean house, dinner on the table and still meet my payouts?
Thanks!
3 responses
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
26 Jul 07
Try setting up some sort of schedule for yourself. I would recommend using 15 minute blocks of time as much as possible...15 on mylot, 15 to wash dishes, 15 to take care of laundry...and so forth throughout the day giving yourself small breaks in between just so you don't burnout. Even if that particular chore isn't done yet after the 15 minutes, walk away from it anyway and move on to the next chore. You can finish it the next time you have it scheduled. This will help keep you on track but not be so overwhelming. I might also help to schedule certain days for certain chores so you aren't trying to do everything everyday. Like laundry is only done on Tuesday and Friday for example. Check out this website too, it might give you even more ideas. www.flylady.com
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
26 Jul 07
Thanks for the tips and the site! I decided to break down vacuming today, I just finished the downstairs and tomorrow I'll do the upstairs. I got the dishes done rather quickly and switched loads in the washer and dryer. I'm on my last load so yay! I do laundry usually on wednesdays and vacum on thursdays. I'm normally so good at organization but in the workplace, lol. It used to be my job to go around organizing every department in the companies I've worked for and redo their filing or work systems to ironically enough save time. But when it comes to the home, I just get so stuck. I think I need to center myself and figure out an easier way, I'll try that 15 min time blocks, I bet that will work.
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
27 Jul 07
That's a great site! Thanks for the link. I'll read it more in depth tomorrow. I'm actually going to bed before the sun comes up tonight, lol. I had a long, long day and it's the first day I've gotten up so early in months. The good news is that I got a lot done so I can sleep in tomorrow and relax a bit. It's easier for me to relax when I know all the household things are done. Thanks again for the tip!
@Vrtual_assistant (23)
• Australia
5 Aug 07
I'm a work at home mum, a virtual assistant. I now have a toddler so can't work 6 hours a day when my son is in school. I work a couple of hours during the day when toddler naps. I do all my shopping with her and housework with her and all other activities, errands, etc. Then get dinner ready and then when hubby gets home I dive back into my office from about 8pm to midnight and beyond (I come out for breaks). I work on weekends if I'm home when toddler naps and even when she's awake as hubby will take care of her. Then again in the evenings. It's virtually a 7 day a week business. The only breaks I get are holidays, which we have a minimum of 4 a year. Believe it or not we still manage to spend lots of time with the kids, out bike riding, lunches, walks, shopping, visiting, you name it. I now also work an hour or so after my son's school as my daughter will play with him for about an hour and then she's had enough. I have my study door open so she wanders in and out. She hates childcare, so I dont force it on her. Oh and I'm anaemic too. It's never ending, busy, busy, busy, but I just seem to get it all done. I'm fast at everything I do. I watch my own mother who is so slow at everything, takes her ages to iron something, ages to prepare a meal. I'm go, go, go, do it and do it fast. That goes for my work and my running of the house and family.
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
6 Aug 07
That sounds like a really cool job. I've been an assistant before and I enjoyed everything about it except having to be stuck in the actual office all day and having to deal with the office politics that come with a big company.
It sounds like you have everything well organized and are doing a great job.
@helpingmomsathome (88)
• United States
27 Jul 07
You definitely need to have a schedule of some sort. I'm not the type to have a detailed schedule down to the minute or even half hour. My schedule looks like this Monday - errands, Tuesday - clean Bathrooms/Kitchen, Wednesday - Clean bedrooms, Thursday - laundry, Friday - clean living room, den, dining room, etc, Saturday and Sunday - yard work & rest. I don't have a dish washer, so I try to do the dishes everyday. I also vacuum most rooms every day.
I have 3 kids (7, 5 & 2) and they all help out now that they are old enough. They help set the table, cook (measuring, getting ingredients, etc.), make their beds, pick up their toys and feed the pets. My husband does most of the yard work (cutting grass, mulching, etc.) and I do all the gardening.
As for balancing work and housework I suggest you set up office hours. Work each day for a certain period of time. Ex. 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. This way you can continue to bring in some income. Plus, if you focus on just one thing at a time and not a bounce around it may take less time to complete.
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
27 Jul 07
I do have certain days on which I do certain things for the house, laundry usually on wed and vacuming on thur, dishes 2 times a day, cat litter every other day. Some of the things take me so long to do, like vacuming, it takes me 2-3 hours to vacum a townhouse apartment because I use all the attachtments, make sure I get every corner and I do the curtains and couches and under furniture, to make sure we're as cat hair free as we can be. Laundry takes forever because sometimes the dryer will take 2 cycles to dry a single load. I'm also trying to do certain sites on certain days to make it easier.
